g>t.  flouts  public  fltbrarp 


A  GUIDE  TO 

THE  CENTRAL  BUILDING 

FOR 

LIBRARIANS 


ST.  LOUIS 
19  17 


PREFACE 


HIS  guide  contains  some  particulars 
about  the  arrangement  of  our  Cen¬ 
tral  Building,  and  the  work  that  is 
carried  on  in  it,  that  may  be  of 
special  interest  to  visiting  librarians.  It  may 
save  them,  in  some  instances,  the  trouble  of 
making  notes  or  of  remembering  descriptions. 
An  illustrated  account  of  the  building  from 
the  standpoint  of  its  architecture  and  con¬ 
struction,  is  available  in  another  form. 

ARTHUR  E.  BOSTWICK, 

LIBRARIAN. 


CONTENTS 

Page 

Preface  .  3 

The  Building  . .  7 

Entrance  Hall  .  8 

Delivery  Hall  .  8 

Reference  Rooms  .  9 

Open  Shelf  Room .  9 

Reading  Room  .  10 

Registration  .  10 

Children’s  Room  .  10 

Binding  Department  .  11 

Newspaper  Room  .  11 

Extension  Work  . 11 

Catalogue  and  Order  Department .  12 

Staff  Accommodations  .  12 

Visible  Indexes  .  13 

The  Stack  .  13 

Public  Writing  Room .  13 

The  Library  School .  14 


5 


THE  BUILDING 


HE  building  is  constructed  around  a  central 
court,  but  instead  of  leaving  this  entirely 
vacant,  a  separate  structure  has  been  erected 
in  its  centre  leaving  a  roughly  horse-shoe 
shaped  space  around  it.  Most  of  this  in¬ 
terior  structure  is  devoted  to  a  large  and  architectur¬ 
ally  impressive  delivery  hall.  The  space  here  is  not 
intended  to  be  economically  utilized.  It  should  be  re¬ 
membered  not  only  that  beauty  and  harmony  of  pro¬ 
portion  do  not  lack  their  utilitarian  aspects,  but  also 
that  this  particular  space,  in  most  public  buildings  of 
this  size  and  character,  is  precisely  that  which  is  not 
utilized  for  any  purpose  whatever.  The  hall  immedi¬ 
ately  adjoins  the  stack  pavilion  on  the  north,  and 
opens  at  the  sides  into  the  reference  room  and  the 
open-shelf  room,  with  which  it  communicates  by  short 
passages  that  are  really  bridges  over  the  court-yard 
below  although  they  do  not  appear  to  be  so  from  the 
interior.  The  location  of  the  public  catalogue  in  the 
delivery  hall  near  the  entrance  to  the  Reference  Room 
makes  it  very  accessible  to  users  of  the  latter,  and  it 
is  not  far  from  the  Open  Shelf  Room. 

Both  these  rooms  overlap  the  ends  of  the  stack 
pavilion,  so  that  there  is  immediate  access  to  the  stack 
from  each.  The  south,  or  front  pavilion  of  the  build¬ 
ing,  which  is  the  only  one  that  does  not  open  directly 
into  the  stack,  contains,  besides  the  entrance  hall  and 
stairways,  the  periodical  reading-room  and  the  Art 
Room,  neither  of  which  suffers  from  the  lack  of  such 
connection. 

All  these  rooms  are  on  the  main  floor,  which  is  one 
story  above  the  street.  The  ground  floor  contains  the 
Children’s  Room,  Applied-Science  Room,  Stations  De¬ 
partment  and  Newspaper  Room,  and  a  large  number 
of  service  rooms  and  offices.  In  the  basement  below 
this  are  the  ventilating  and  heating  machinery,  the 
carpenter  and  paint  shops,  the  packing  rooms,  rooms  for 
general  storage  and  the  bindery.  No  bindery  was 
planned  for  the  building,  and  when  the  establishment 


7 


of  one  became  necessary,  this  was  the  only  available 
space  for  it. 

On  the  second  floor,  just  above  the  main  floor,  are 
the  Cataloguing  and  Order  Department,  the  quarters 
of  the  Library  School,  various  offices  of  administration, 
and  a  suite  of  rooms  for  work  and  storage  connected 
with  the  Reference  Department. 

The  fact  that  there  are  few  public  rooms  on  the 
Ground  and  Second  floors,  most  of  these  being  con¬ 
centrated  on  the  Main  floor,  is  responsible  for  the  lack 
of  a  public  passenger  elevator,  although  there  are  two 
service  elevators  in  the  rear.  Owing  to  the  extension 
of  public  use  on  other  floors  and  to  the  fact  that  the 
main  floor  is  really  a  story  above  the  street,  it  would 
have  been  better  to  provide  an  elevator  for  readers. 
At  present  the  service  elevators  are  used  for  this  pur¬ 
pose  when  necessary. 

Ask  for  “The  Central  Library  Building  of  the  Pub¬ 
lic  Library”  (1912)  an  illustrated  descriptive  booklet; 
and  “The  St.  Louis  Public  Library;  an  Account  of  its 
Work”  (1912). 


ENTRANCE  HALL. 

Note,  on  the  left  of  the  central  doorway,  as  you  en¬ 
ter,  a  wing-frame  used  for  publicity.  This  is  in  charge 
of  a  staff  committee,  which  assigns  one  panel  to  each 
department  and  one  to  each  branch  in  succession.  New 
material  is  posted  monthly. 

DELIVERY  HALL. 

This  contains  the  main  delivery  desk,  the  registra¬ 
tion  desk,  the  public  catalogue,  the  information  desk, 
and  space  for  general  exhibits.  Travel  material  is 
commonly  displayed  here  on  tables.  The  public  and 
other  catalogues  are  more  fully  described  in  the  pam¬ 
phlet  noted  just  above.  Note  on  the  delivery  desk 
the  visible  index  to  accessions,  the  display  of  books  and 
the  Today  bulletin.  Behind  this  desk  the  indicator  on 
which  red  illuminated  numerals  appear,  corresponding 
to  numbers  on  the  brass-checks  given  to  applicants  for 


8 


closed-shelf  books  and  indicating  that  these  books  are 
ready.  Note  on  the  registration  desk,  under  glass,  the 
curve  showing  ^graphically  the  circulation  of  the  Library 
from  1893  down  to  the  current  month. 

REFERENCE  ROOMS. 

General  Reference,  Art,  Applied  Science. 

Reference  work  in  the  Central  Library  is  done  in 
three  rooms,  the  Reference  Room  and  the  Art  Room, 
adjoining  each  other  on  the  main  floor,  and  the  Applied 
Science  Room  on  the  ground  floor,  just  below.  A 
considerable  portion  of  the  whole  reference  collection 
is  in  the  stack.  There  are  6,300  volumes  on  open  shelves 
in  the  Reference  Room,  3,700  in  glass  cases  in  the  Art 
Room  and  4,700  on  open  shelves  in  the  Applied  Science 
Room.  In  the  Art  Room  there  are  frequent  exhibi¬ 
tions  of  paintings,  prints,  and  art  objects,  on  temporary 
screens  and  in  glass  cases.  A  certain  amount  of  ele¬ 
mentary  reference  work  is  also  done  in  the  Open  Shelf 
and  Periodical  Rooms. 

Note  the  method  of  filing  pamphlets  and  clippings, 
the  “Locality  File”  of  picture  postals  in  the  main  Ref¬ 
erence  Room;  the  portrait  collection,  the  collection  of 
3000  lantern  slides  in  the  Art  Room,  arranged  in  trays 
in  classified  order,  with  reference  cards  and  guides; 
also  the  file  of  clipped  work  of  modern  magazine  il¬ 
lustrators  and  the  framed  pictures  for  circulation;  and 
in  the  Applied  Science  Room,  the  framed  wall-pictures 
of  St.  Louis  industries  and  the  collection  of  house- 
organs.  The  colored  stars  used  on  books  denote  those 
shelved  in  the  three  reference  rooms.  Ask  for  “Making 
Art  Popular  Through  the  Library”  by  Mary  Powell, 
chief  of  the  Art  Department  (1915). 

OPEN  SHELF  ROOM. 

Contains  21,000  books  freely  accessible,  including 
a  large  part  of  the  music  collection,  the  large-type 
collection  with  its  visible  index  and  the  new-book 
shelves.  The  Library  circulates  no  music  in  sheets. 
Note  the  music  catalogue,  with  its  full  analysis,  and 
the  way  in  which  music  rolls  are  noted  thereon.  No 
rolls  not  also  in  the  general  collection  are  catalogued. 

9 


No  fiction  is  shown  on  the  new  book  shelves.  The  col¬ 
lection  in  this  room  is  fluid  and  hence  there  is  no 
shelf  list.  The  shelves  here  are  treated  as  part  of 
the  stack. 

READING  ROOM. 

Contains  the  current  file  of  periodicals.  The  news¬ 
papers  at  the  end  of  the  room  are  none  of  them  dailies, 
all  daily  papers  being  in  the  newspaper  room  on  the 
floor  below. 

CENTRAL  REGISTRATION. 

There  is  only  one  registration  file,  kept  at  the  central 
office,  opening  immediately  behind  the  Registration  Desk 
in  the  Delivery  Hall.  Readers  may  register  at  any 
branch  or  other  agency  of  circulation,  but  cards  issue 
from  Central  and  are  good  at  any  agency  in  the  city. 
Books  taken  out  at  any  agency  (including  the  Central 
Library)  may  be  returned  at  any  other  agency. 

Overdue  postals  are  all  sent  out  from  the  central 
office.  The  chief  of  the  department  will  explain  the 
new  numbering  system,  m  process  of  adoption,  in  which 
certain  natural  groups  of  card-holders  will  be  recognized. 

CHILDREN’S  ROOM. 

This  is  the  largest  of  a  chain  of  rooms  for  children, 
including  one  in  each  branch  library  throughout  the 
city.  They  are  operated  in  conjunction  as  a  Children’s 
Department,  with  a  supervisor  whose  office  is  in  the 
Central  Building,  immediately  opposite  the  Children’s 
Room  on  the  ground  floor,  near  the  13th  St.  entrance. 
The  room  itself  is  rather  larger  than  most  children’s 
rooms,  but  it  is  so  treated  that  its  size  does  not  detract 
from  the  home-like  atmosphere.  Note  the  fire-place 
with  its  Indian  tiles,  the  pictures,  and  the  case  of  illus¬ 
trated  editions,  with  its  accompanying  lists,  also  the 
Drama  League  collection  of  plays  for  children. 

Ask  for  “How  the  Children  of  a  Great  City  Get  Their 
Books”  by  Effie  L.  Power,  Supervisor  of  Children’s 
Work  from  1911  to  1914  (1914).  Note  in  the  Super¬ 
visor’s  office  the  collection  of  books  on  children’s  lit¬ 
erature  and  lists  of  children’s  books,  in  process  of  for¬ 
mation. 


10 


BINDING  DEPARTMENT. 


The  headquarters  of  this  department  are  on  the 
ground  floor,  in  the  south-west  corner  of  the  building, 
iere  are  done  the  office  work,  preparation  of  books 
ind  magazines  for  binding,  general  repairing,  etc.  Note 
he  arrangement  of  magazine  indexes,  and  the  collec- 
ion  of  worn-out  books  for  missing  pages  (kept  in 
he  stack). 

The  bindery  itself  is  on  the  basement  floor,  where 
t  occupies  two  rooms.  Note,  among  processes,  the 
ewing  and  the  lettering  of  covers ;  among  machines, 
he  perforator,  the  board-shears,  the  power  cutter,  the 
gluing  machine  and  the  embossing  machine. 

Ask  for  “New  Books  for  Old,”  by  Mary  E.  Whee- 
ock,  Chief  of  the  Binding  Department  (1916). 

NEWSPAPER  ROOM. 

Contains  dailies  only;  weeklies  are  filed  in  the  Period- 
cal  Room.  There  are  no  seats  in  this  room.  This 
:liminates  the  tramp  element.  The  room  is  used  only 
>y  persons  who  really  desire  to  read,  and  there  has 
>een  no  complaint  of  discomfort.  The  papers  are  on 
iles  fastened  to  sloping  “stand-up”  desks. 

EXTENSION  WORK. 

What  is  often  known  as  extension  work  is  carried 
>n  here  in  two  departments — those  of  stations  and 
ravelling  libraries;  the  former  operates  public  agen- 
:ies,  including  delivery  stations  and  public  deposit  sta- 
ions:  the  latter  has  charge  of  private  or  semi-public 
tations  used  only  by  designated  individuals,  such  as 
hose  in  schools,  public  and  private,  commercial  and 
ndustrial  houses,  associations,  settlements,  clubs,  etc. 
Offices  of  both  departments  are  on  the  ground  floor, 
lear  the  13th  St.  door.  The  Travelling  Library  De- 
>artment  has  a  section  of  the  stack  for  its  books,  and 
he  Stations  Department  has  a  large  room  for  distri- 
mtion  and  packing,  acting  as  a  general  clearing-house. 

Note  system  of  distribution  by  “book-bins;”  large 
ifts  from  receiving-room  on  floor  below,  maps  in  offices. 

11 


The  assistants  will  explain  our  system  of  distribu¬ 
tion  by  parcel-post  and  the  co-operative  work  of  the 
local  post-office. 

CATALOGUE  AND  ORDER  DEPARTMENT. 

This  department,  a  combination  of  the  two  separate 
departments  common  to  most  public  libraries,  has  a 
single  head  and  a  single  staff  of  35  persons,  working 
together  in  one  room.  It  takes  charge  of  the  books 
and  is  responsible  for  them  from  the  moment  the  title 
is  selected  for  purchase  until  the  book  is  placed  on  the 
shelf. 

Note  the  Repertory  Catalogue  of  850,000  printed  cards, j 
including  those  of  the  Library  of  Congress,  John  Crerar 
Library,  Harvard  and  Chicago  University  libraries. 
Note  also  the  multigraph  and  its  use.  The  official  1 
catalogue  here  is  also  a  Union  Author  Catalogue. 

This  department  also  receives  and  checks  current 
periodicals,  makes  solicitation  for  donations  and  pre¬ 
pares  the  Monthly  Bulletin  for  the  press,  under  the 
Librarian’s  editorial  supervision. 

STAFF  ACCOMMODATIONS. 

These  include  separate  locker  rooms,  with  lavatories, 
for  men  and  women,  besides  individual  lockers  in  var-i 
ious  departments;  a  staff  lunch  room,  with  kitchen  and; 
pantries,  a  recreation  room,  with  piano,  a  rest-room, 
and  an  assembly  room  for  staff  meetings.  The  boys; 
are  allowed  to  play  ball  in  the  courts  and  driveway,  j 
under  supervision,  and  have  space  for  gymnasium  ap-, 
paratus  in  the  basement. 

The  lunch  room  is  in  charge  of  a  committee  of  the! 
staff.  The  custodian,  whose  salary  is  paid  by  the  Li¬ 
brary,  takes  care  of  the  room,  washes  dishes  and  makes 
tea  and  coffee. 

Afternoon  tea  is  served  in  this  room  during  the  win¬ 
ter  from  3:45  to  4:30  p.  m.  Each  member  of  the  staff  , 
who  so  desires  is  allowed  ten  minutes  to  take  tea.  The 
expense  is  met  by  subscription. 


12 


VISIBLE  INDEXES. 


The  Library  uses  the  visible  indexing  system  in  sev- 
ral  places,  among  them  the  “new-book”  index  (about 
ooo  cards)  on  the  main  delivery  desk,  the  index  to 
oming  lectures,  exhibits  and  concerts,  on  the  same 
esk,  and  the  index  to  the  Large  Type  Collection  on 
he  Open  Shelf  Room  desk.  The  system  used  is  the 
Index  Visible”,  the  invention  of  Prof.  Irving  Fisher 
f  Yale. 

THE  STACK. 

This  occupies  the  entire  north  pavilion  of  the  build- 
rig  and  includes  seven  tiers,  shelving  about  800,000 
olumes,  of  which  space  for  about  200,000  is  now  oc- 
upied.  The  library  contains  altogether  nearly  500,000 
■olumes,  including  those  in  other  parts  of  the  building 
.nd  in  the  branches.  Much  of  the  space  unoccupied 
>y  books  is  now  used  for  sorting  purposes  and  for  the 
torage  of  pamphlets,  magazines  and  other  such  mater- 
al.  Additional  space  is  available  for  shelving  in  the 
.ttic  and  the  basement  of  this  pavilion.  The  steel 
tack  is  of  the  type  first  introduced  by  the  Art  Metal 
Construction  Co.,  but  was  built  by  the  Library  Bureau, 
fhe  only  mechanical  transportation  is  vertical,  hori- 
ontal  carrying  being  done  with  trucks.  The  electric 
>ook-lifts  are  seldom  used,  assistants  generally  pre¬ 
erring  to  wheel  trucks  directly  into  the  service  ele¬ 
ctors  and  accompany  them  to  their  destination.  The 
loors  are  glass  except  on  the  first  tier,  where  they  are 
narble.  This  gives  visitors  an  opportunity  to  com¬ 
pare  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  the  two  ma- 
erials.  Observe  especially  the  difference  in  the  re¬ 
lection  of  light  upon  the  lowest  shelf.  Note  that  the 
ibrary  uses  no  author-numbers. 

PUBLIC  WRITING  ROOM. 

Occupies  at  present  the  general  pamphlet  and  clip¬ 
ping  room,  whose  filing  cases,  arranged  around  the 
vails,  do  not  interfere  with  the  floor-space.  Contains 
our  tables  seating  24  writers.  Pens,  ink,  paper  and 


13 


envelopes  are  free ;  paper  and  envelopes  of  higher 
grade,  stamps  and  postals  are  on  sale.  The  custodi¬ 
an  receives  no  salary,  but  does  notarial  work,  stenog¬ 
raphy  and  typewriting  at  current  rates. 

Note  the  stand  with  collection  of  free  publicity  ma¬ 
terial. 

THE  LIBRARY  SCHOOL. 

This  is  the  third  school  to  be  operated  directly  by  a 
public  library,  those  of  the  New  York  and  the  Los 
Angeles  Public’  Libraries  having  preceded  it.  It  is  an 
expansion  of  the  Library  Training  Class  operated  on 
the  present  scale  from  1910  and  in  a  smaller  way  for 
several  years  previous.  It  occupies  a  class-room,  prin¬ 
cipal’s  office,  cloak-room,  chief  instructor’s  office  and 
two  lecture  rooms,  together  with  space  in  other  parts 
of  the  building,  for  special  work. 

See  the  school  circular  of  information. 


14 


